Should I give up on my seedlings?

[changingseasons]

It's been more than 3 weeks since I started my seeds indoors- only about half have sprouted. One just came up a few days ago, which made me think I might still see some... but no luck yet.

These have sprouted and are doing well: cherry tomato, brandywine tomato, marvel striped tomato, pumpkin, charentais melon.

What hasn't sprouted yet: bell pepper, lemon cucumber, lemon balm (and this one has a bunch of seeds in it).

What have I done wrong? Why aren't they sprouting yet? (I have kept the soil nice and moist, they get a little direct sunlight every day, my house gets down to about 58-60 at night.)

[goldfinches]

I'm not sure about your lemon balm or cucumbers, (I'm starting my cucumbers outside, I think), but I know peppers take forever to sprout. I started mine Feb. 28 and they just sprouted this week. If you're really curious, you can sacrifice one and dig around to find the seed and see if it has sprouted under the ground.

[changingseasons]

Whew- that makes me feel better. I think most of the seed packets I looked at said like 10-15 days germination, and nothing came up that quickly so I started to get worried.

[dogmom327]

Peppers sprout better when it's really warm. I had pretty decent germination rates on a seedling heat mat.

[northwoods1995]

I had good luck sprouting bell and hot peppers last year when I put a heat mat under the seed pots.

I need to find my heat mat--I somehow misplaced it. I already started my pepper seeds and mine aren't doing anything either. I think they like the warmer soil.

[Ruthiegirl]

Heat! Seedlings need heat, especially the plants you mentioned -- tomatoes, peppers, cukes -- all heat loving plants. I use a heating pad (just a cheapy one). It is set on low and provides enough heat to germinate all of those heat loving plants. And peppers are slow even with heat.

[changingseasons]

hmm. I have them sitting on the top of my fridge, thinking that would be the warmest place in my house.

[Erinz]

Originally Posted by changingseasons

hmm. I have them sitting on the top of my fridge, thinking that would be the warmest place in my house.

I was just going to offer that before I had a germination mat I put them on top of my fridge and it worked well enough. Having a nice germination mat is very convenient though

I have mine on the mat and many of them are just poking up now after a month! Give them time, I think those estimations are for prime conditions. I mean I have tomato and amaranth and tomatillo and (mannnnny other) volunteers in my garden every year and I KNOW the germination times for them can't possibly be 6 cold months, kwim? Things pop up when they can, hence weeds too! grrr!

Give them more time and a warm spot. Happy growing!

[rainyday]

Cucumbers at least need significantly warmer temps for germination. I think they need it consistently in the 70s to 80s. I know one relative of mine has good luck germinating cucumbers on top of her water heater (but her water heater is in a small closet, so it's toasty in there all the time).

[cschick]

Yeah, I'm still waiting on mine too.

I remember this happens every year, the peppers finally spout just about when I've given up on them. The other thing I remember is that pepper seeds actually don't like the little "sunhouse" setup (if you've got that going) because it keeps the soil too damp for them.

[changingseasons]

Well, I finally gave up the other day and stuck a couple extra pepper seeds in the pot- just in case. Lo and behold, I looked in there today and the original seeds are just starting to poke through the soil- finally, after 4 weeks. Now I'm just waiting for my cucumber, watermelon, and lemon balm. Patiently waiting.....

[lmonter]

Peppers take 3-4 weeks to germinate. Sometimes 1-3 weeks if you have your heat mat (or in my case, heating pad I typically use for cramps!) and the soil temp is around 80-90*F.

Cukes I direct sow outside, same with watermelon if I dare try it. Haven't done lemon balm, or maybe I tried it one year but they didn't take. Low germination rate I think?